


The Pages from the Monochrome Diary

by aviva_aviva



Category: Bleach
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-11
Updated: 2012-11-02
Packaged: 2018-04-08 19:34:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4317132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aviva_aviva/pseuds/aviva_aviva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short stories about the moments between Ichigo and his inner hollow.<br/>Story #1: Ichigo losses him memory just as he gets attacked by a hollow<br/>Story #2: This is the first time Ichigo's inner hollow has seen snow.<br/>Story #3: Fairytales are not the best way to explain the real world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Lost Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ichigo losses him memory just as he gets attacked by a hollow

Ichigo just cursed his luck. It was the last day of school before holidays, and it happened after he left school. Everybody was already gone and for some reason, he could not find his substitute badge. Meeting the hollow was something he had hoped it would not happened. He took the run to the nearest park with no people in it.

"Come on, you can stop running away now, I got tired of playing cat and mouse." The hollow looked at the patience line. Ichigo was not having a lot of time left to think, so he looked around. And then the idea hit him.

The hollow had looked around the playground, unable to locate him, even thought his smell was all around him.

"Show yourself already. I am going to enjoy eating your soul." At that moment, something jumped at it from the nearby tree. Hollow had caught the thing and tossed it as far away as possible. Only than did he realise, the smell of a delicious person, that he was chasing was on his hand, meaning that he had just thrown his meal away. He started to chase it. But the crack made on his head was starting to grow from the movement, making him vanish.

At that time, Ichigo was lying there, his head having hit the log. He had already descended into the darkness.

He woke up some time latter. There was a headache to be dealt with. He looked around, wondering where he is. But for some reason, he could not remember, nor could he think. He blamed the pain inside his head. There was also some blood there, but he was not bleeding anymore. He was trying to stand up, his hand shaking, unable to hold him up.

"I guess I am lucky today. Such a tasty meal, in such a weak state." Ichigo just looked at the monster. The fear was creeping on him. He could not remember anything like that meeting before, and he did not know what to expect. He tried to go as far away as possible, but the log was on the way. The fear started to paralyse him. He closed his eyes, as he heard the moving forward. He prepared himself.

In front of him, he had heard the thump hitting the ground, and a small tapping. He opened his eyes a little, just to see an albino, in white traditional clouding, hakama and kimono, discharging the light blue blast from his sword. The blast had hit the monster and it vanished.

They were standing there, Ichigo watching the person in front of him, and the other just watching in front of himself.

"Che, Ichigo, do not tell me, you were afraid of a weakling like that." He turned his head, his eyes mocking him and for some reason, he was dissatisfied. "You are really becoming weak, King. I guess, the time when you lose your throne is closer every day."

"Who are you?" Ichigo went over his first surprise, but not his fear. The other now turned around, now irritated.

"You think ignorance will get you out of it?" He knelled in front of him, looking. Ichigo tried to put some distance between them, since the sword on the back of an albino was too close for his taste.

"Ignorance?" There was some disbelief creeping into Ichigo's eyes. "You are the one walking around in dresses in old style, having a sword and spurting a idiotic things. You are the one, that is weird." There was a concern in the black eyes.

"Are you okay? Hit your head or something?" Ichigo remembered his headache and went to grab his back of a head. The albino then jerked the hand away, examining it, then continued on his head, forcing Ichigo's head lower for it.

"What do you think you are doing?" Ichigo tried to resist, but with no result. But after 10 second or so, it stopped.

"It is a bad wound, but at least it is not bleeding anymore." He looked at Ichigo, like complementing what to ask. Then he grabbed him for a shoulders.

"Do you know your name?" Ichigo just looked at him in surprise.

"Of course I know my name." The eyes did not left him, still waiting for something. But Ichigo was at the lost of words. He could not remember his name. What was it again. He was convinced it meant something important. He tried to think about it, and then remembered, how the albino had called him. Worth a try.

"It is Ichigo." But it did not seemed to answer the question, and Ichigo started to feel unease, avoiding the eyes.

"Ichigo what?" Ichigo looked at him surprised. "Ichigo is just your name, I am looking for a family name as well." Ichigo looked down, not getting a voice out of himself.

"I do not know." For some reason, it was hard to admitted. It was because of a person, situation, or was he only like that. But the albino let go of him, sighing.

"I guess you had lost you memory." He put a hand on his forehead. It was cold, like the ice was pressed on it. "And the cold as well. Not to mention a wound on your head." He sighed. "You are always chasing troubles, or are they chasing you, Ichigo?" With that words he stud up just looking at him.

"Can't exactly let you die, now can I?" He flopped him on the shoulders.

"What do you think you are doing?" Ichigo was losing the energy to fight by any passing second, but his stubbornness will not allow him to go down without the fight. Who knows what that person is trying to do to him.

"I am getting you home, for your information. In your condition, you would not be able to came home, not that you remember it." The last part of the sentence was mockery, and Ichigo's anger was inflamed by it. But the next moment, he realised, they were in the air? The albino was doing humanly impossible jumps from roof to roof. And then there was no more roofs and Ichigo closed his eyes, ready to die. But the jumping continued, this time they were bouncing of the air. Ichigo was afraid to even breath. For some reason that made the albino chuckled, so he tried to relax. After a couple of minutes of jumping in the air, they arrived at the house, entering from the open window in the second flour.

"Are you just going to brake into a random house." He just looked at him.

"I don't have the key, but do you by any chance remember, where you have put yours?" Ichigo did not have any comment on that. His normal facial expression had came back.

"At least you remember, how to make that face. I never manage to do it." Ichigo tensed a little and the albino laughed.

"Do do not need to be so tense. I am not going to eat you." Ichigo now looked surprised, losing a grip and falling down on the flour.

"Eat? Not exactly what I had in mind. Where did you get that idea?" He took the white hand to stand up. "I mean, the monster before tried to eat me as well, so what are you, a group of man-eaters or something?" The albino looked at him, now smirking.

"That is one way of putting it." Ichigo fall on the flour.

"You are going to get hurt even more, if you fall every single minute." He tried to pick him up, but he back away until he hit the bed. The albino looked at him amused.

"I won't eat you, if that is what you are worried about." Ichigo just eyed him suspiciously.

"I mean, there is no fun chasing the prey that can't even run away properly. I will just wait until you recover and then eat you." Ichigo had a really scared face on.

"That look was priceless." He was laughing. "The great Kurosaki Ichigo, being scared to death. That is not something you see everyday." Ichigo was now angry, and in his anger, he tried to push the albino away, but loosing his balance, he ended on top of him. Their faces were just inches apart and they did not move for a while. Then the white hand brushed some of the hair away, looking at Ichigo's eyes, witch were open wide. There was the red that was coming on his cheeks. There was a lingering sadness in the way the albino looked at him, and it made Ichigo even more uncomfortable.

"Are you going to move, or I have to help you." The sadness was gone and there was a playful tone in it. Ichigo just jerked away, stumbling over himself. The albino was watching him. "You still did not explain the part with the eating." Ichigo now pointed out the previous talk, that went unanswered.

"Shouldn't you take care of the head wound first." Ichigo looked at him, his eyes penetrating him. "I doesn't even hurt anymore. Now, answer the question." With this words, albino scratched his head, looking around.

"The things from the park, they are called hollows." He looked at Ichigo, seeing him listening. "They are fallen human souls, and because they had lost their heart, they eat human's souls, to replace it." He paused for a second. "Their characteristics are the hole in the place of their heart and the mask. They normally don't have a human appearance."

"So, you are trying to tell me, they used to be human souls and they eat other human, that is why you guys kill them? A little hard to believe." He had a disbelieving look at his face, his arms crossed. At that, the albino smirked.

"Not us, it is your job, Ichigo." At that, he looked like he remembered something and put him bridle style up. "If you have anymore question, you can ask them after a bath." Before Ichigo could even react, they were already in the bathroom. Ichigo was put on the ground.

"What do you think you are doing?" The question was left unanswered, as albino went to the bath, filling it with water.

"You are having a cold, so you have no right to complain." He checked the water quite some time, until he was satisfied.

"You are checking quiet a lot, aren't you?" Now Ichigo was smirking at him, but he did not get even a glance.

"The water at the body temperature helps the most against frostbite, so it should work in your situation as well. If we make the bath to hot, it won't help, if some part of your had frozen. But too cold, it won't heal you." Ichigo, now sitting down, was annoyed at this words.

"So you can just eat me, while I am in a better condition, or something?" His voice had a sign of bitterness in it, and the yellow eyes had looked at him. He was just looking at the wall in front of him, sitting in a protective ball.

"You are a hollow, aren't you. Even thought you do not have a mask or a hole..." Ichigo trailed in his thought, like he did not intended to say the last part. The albino could not help but sighed.

"I am a hollow, that is true." Ichigo reacted only by making the already small protective ball even smaller. "But I have no desire to eat you." Ichigo looked at him with the corner of his eyes.

"You better get to bath before it cools down." With albino's eyes on him, Ichigo slowly got up, but lost his balance. He was intercepted before he could meet the ground. The white hands slowly placing him on the toilet.

"Why..." The albino looked at him, "I guess it does not really matter." He only got a weird look in return. And than he was getting undressed.

"What do you think you are doing now?" The albino stopped, stepped back and smirked.

"I does not look like you can do it yourself." Ichigo become red, but while it was from embarrassment or from anger, he personally did not know.

"That does not mean, you can just undress me, at least warn me before! Plus, not being able to stand does not mean I can not undress." He looked frustrated, because the smirk still would not disappear from the others person's face.

"And being undress, how do you plan to go to the bath?" Ichigo wanted to hit his head somewhere, but there was not a suitable place. How could he had forgotten about that?

"I have an idea, so you won't died from embarrassment." Ichigo looked at him suspiciously.

"It is simple. You get in bath while still dressed a little and then you can undress until the end while in bath. That way, it won't bother you. Not like I had not seen all of that before." Before allowing any complain, he started to put his plain into action. Ichigo growled in complain, but otherwise did not resist. Even when he was only in his underwear. He was placed inside the bathtub.

"Hey, isn't the water a little too hot?" Should Ichigo had enough strength to jump out he would, but he could only complain. That got the albino thinking.

"Well, the best temperature would be the body one, but I was shore it was not higher." He tried it.

"No, it is not higher. Your senses are a mess, so deal with it. After some time it should get better." They were just there for some time.

"I will get you a towel and something to dress up into after bath." He looked at him, "Do not leave, otherwise..." The eyes looking at Ichigo just made him nod. After the doors closed behind him and Ichigo was be able to breath again. For some reason, he could not trust the albino at all, but he had a feeling that he have nothing to hide from him and it was a scary. And while he was just making fun of him most of the time, the sadness from before and the eyes from now, he could not understand him at all. All this thinking had made his head hurt again, so he just decided to drop it for now. The temperature was more pleasant with every passing moment. So Ichigo just relaxed inside.  
He did came back after a couple of minutes, having a bundle of clothes and a towel with him.

"Well, if you had worm up, you can came out now, you know." Ichigo tried to stand and the albino looked prepared to help him as soon as he would lose his balance.

"Can you get me a towel. And if you could looked the other way." The albino turned around, but he looked ready to move. The towel was in his arm, stretched towards the bath. Ichigo took in and wiped himself dry, covering his body. He then took the rest of a bundle, dressing himself.

"You can turn around now." He did not have to say twice ant it was a good thing because the tide of dizziness had flown through him and he would had fallen down.

"You might have worm up, but you are still sick." He put him up bridle style again and by this time Ichigo had already realised that complaining won't work. They had descended to the down flour, and Ichigo was carefully placed down, getting him under a pile of blankets. Ichigo had just allowed the blackness to envelope him.

He got woken up by the commotion in front of his house. It sounded like the whole neighbourhood in getting destroyed. He got up, feeling some of his strength returned.

Outside was not in the best condition. Among the holes on the ground were his albino saviour, that was smirking at angry looking archer. There was also a orange haired woman, but she was away from the main battle.

"You aren't going to scare anyone with that kind of weak power." He only replied by releasing some more arrows. The woman was looking determent, but there was a smell of fear from her.

Not knowing what he is doing, he stepped in the middle of battle in attempt to stop it. He felt a wind, and at the next moment, he was meters away and in the hand of the albino.

"You are out of your mind." It was only a whisper and he did not even looked at him.

"What are you doing, Kurosaki?" Ichigo looked at him.

"Are you talking to me?" Ishida and Inoue gaped, not moving at all.

"What did you do with him?" Ishida had managed to compose himself first.

"He hit his head. Inoue is free to try heal it." With that words Inoue came to them, slowly, but the albino give no indication to move.

There was an orange field surrounding Ichigo. He might started to panic, but all three were looking at him with expectation.

"I did not know, you could do this. Thank you, Inoue." She looked happy, but the archer seemed disappointed.

"Well, at least some of the memory came back." He was having a grin pasted on his face.

"It is your fault, right?" He put his hand up.

"Well, he did save me, so he can't be the bad, right?" Ishida stopped.

"Save you?"

"From something called a hollow. It tried to eat my soul, or at least it said that." He looked at albino, but he was looking up, worried.

With that, the great pressure had come down.

"What is that?" Inoue had covered her head, Ichigo tried to get away and the other two looked around.

"It feels like a hollow, but it is so big." He looked at albino, that had a worried face.

"A Vasto lorde, to be exact." Ichigo looked puzzled, but Inoue and Ishida looked at him, scared? It was the closest to that. Then, the hole had appeared in the house, and the four inside could see for the first time their enemy. The albino took his sword.

"Ishida, get Ichigo away from here. I will try..." A couple of second, he was looking at Ishida, the Vasto lorde get to the quincy and made a hole inside his stomach. The albino reacted and pushed the intruder away, but the damage had already been done. Inoue started to heal Ishida, while the two hollows took the battle in the sky.

Ichigo looked at the sky, only seeing the white and red blasts on the sky. He thought they were evenly matched, since the battle didn't ended yet, but he could not tell from the ground.

"Are you worried?" Ichigo looked at him, denying an accusation. But he only got a badge with the skull on it.

"Tatsuki had it." Ishida had trow it at him, and Ichigo just looked at it. At that time, the blast had came from the sky.

At the same time, the battle in the sky was evenly matched, and none did gain any advantages. They stopped for a moment, just looking at each other.

"Why are you battling in a behalf of some humans and death gods? Shouldn't they just be your food?"

"Do I look like, I am doing it on the behave of death gods and humans?" He looked at him, like he is disturbed by his question.

"You do. Why else would you be fighting me right now?" The albino just smirked.

"Why am I fighting you? Ichigo would die, if he fought you right now. And that would mean problems for me." The hollow just looked at him for a while, and than looked back on them.

"Ichigo or whatever, is he the clueless orange head? The one with the biggest spiritual powers?" He than looked back to albino, who gave no indication.

"I see. A visored and an inner hollow. But why not just take advantage?" The sword was hold more tightly, so the white hand become even paler.

"I would advise you, to no speak about things, you can not comprehend." At that, the white getsuga tensho came from his sword, but it was easily blocked.

"You are getting controlled by your own emotion." The Vasto lorde grinned, his hand pointed to the people on the ground.

"Cero." Before the blast had hit them, the albino managed to negated it with getsuga tensho, but it left him wide open for an attack. The hit he had gotten was not fatal, but it was bad. It forced him to retreated up, giving Vasto lorde the free way down. To at least try to stop him., he thrown the sword in front of Ichigo. But he changed his target to the albino, stabbing him.

"For a hollow, feelings are the death, no matter what. Die, knowing, you would have survived, if not for that reason." At that words, he thrown the now limb body away.

Meanwhile, Ichigo had approached the sword, and taking the grip on it. The feeling had started to came back to him, and he remembered the name, like it was a part of him. Se simply whispered 'Zangetsu', the ribbon on the end warping around Ichigo. Ichigo just smiled, getting ready. The Vasto lorde now turned to them, but Ichigo managed to part the first blow. He used getsuga tensho for distraction, jumped a few meters away and using the badge, he forced himself out of the body. He used flash step, to stand in front of lying albino, trusting his sword next to the white man's head.

"Do not tell me, that is all you got? You can't eve use instant regeneration anymore." The albino on the ground turn his head, looking at him.

"It might be my power, but where do you think, I get the energy to use it?" Ichigo scowled at that, but he did extend his hand. Just taking his hand, the instant regeneration trigger, making the albino look ready for round two.

"It is really interesting. death god, saving his inner hollow? I have not heard of such a union before. It just make you two even a better prey. But tell me.. Why save him?" Ichigo, turned to him, grabbing his own Zangetsu.

"Why I would not want to save a part of my soul." He placed his sword parallel to the ground, his white counterpart mimicking him. The two cry 'Bankai' were heard and the smoke came. But before it cleared, the clashing was heard for far above. Ishida in Inoue, that were watching so far, were once again unable to see anything.

After a couple of minutes, two patting, but barely hurt individuals came from the sky. The only difference between them was, that one was all white and one was in colours.

"Did you kill it?" Ishida knew the answer to the question before the smile came on their faces. He sighed, knowing he would not stand a chance against them.

"Well then some explanation would be in place." Ichigo nodded.  
Inoue started fixing the hole, the albino prepared the tea and everybody was sited around the small table in front of the TV.

"So, your memory had came back?" Inoue looked really happy about it.

"Aah, I remember it. And before you ask, I tried to battle a hollow inside my body, since I did not have a badge or Kon with me, and the hollow..., well, you know." He had red cheeks with his hand in the back of his head.

"So, who is really him?" Ishida pointed at the albino with him look.

"My inner hollow."

"Inner hollow?" Ishida jumped up, glaring.

"Something had to go wrong somewhere. But I have it under control." Ishida looked unconvinced.

"Look, if I lose my mind, you can kill me." Inoue looked from one to another, scared.

"But why are you willing to harbour the hollow inside of you?"

"You get used to it. And it did get born from my soul." Then the clock was heard and they realised, how late it is. Inoue jumped up and clapped her hands.

"I think we better get some sleep, Ishida. Kurosaki did say, he will take care of it." At that words, Inoue bowed and went, but at the door waited for Ishida.

"If anything happens because of him," pointed at the albino that just smirked, "I am holding you responsible and will consider you a threat." At that words, he left. Inoue hurried after him.

After they left, Ichigo had turned to the albino.

"I do not have to worry about that, right?" The hollow side of him had not even turned to him.

"I do not feel hungry and I only like fighting strong guys, so probably not." He looked uninterested int he conversation, so Ichigo tried to call him, realising he does not know his name.

"So what is your name exactly. You know mine but I do not know yours." The albino sighed.

"Maybe, one day I will tell you" The sadness was back again for a moment.

"So, how am I supposed to call you?" For some reason, he wanted to know the name, but he could not explain that feeling.

"You had no problem calling me hollow until now." Ichigo jumped back, when he realied the hollow's face was right in front of his. He took a deep breath to relax.

"You should go to sleep, Ichigo." His face was now uncomfortably close, so Ichigo back away.

"But..."

"Don't bother yourself with that. Just not get killed." With that words he started to disappear and he returned back inside the Ichigo's inner world.


	2. The Fun in the Snow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the first time Ichigo's inner hollow has seen snow.

"Ichigo, look. Everything is white." Ichigo had looked from his homework, looking what has excited his hollow. And then he realized it is snowing.

"So it is that time of a year again." Ichigo allowed himself to gain a small smile on his face. He tried to go back to homework, but the hollow jumped on him.

"Ne, ne, Ichigo. What is that white thing, falling from the sky?"

"It is called snow, and if you let me finish my homework, we can get outside after that. It won't just disappear." He seemed satisfied by answer, and went back to observe the outside.

"I have finished." He stretched his arms, and looked back on the other.

"So, we are going now?" Ichigo just nodded and took some things from his closed.

"We would better get dressed warmly." He put a fabrics on the hollow's head, and thrown the bundle on him. The hollow just looked at it.

"This are gloves, and you put them like that." He shoved him, and continued with sweater and so on. After both of them being dressed, they left the room.

They came to the kitchen, seeing Karin sitting at the table. Then Ichigo looked around it, but was interrupted.

"Dad is not here, so you do not have to worry about hiding it." She turned around and looked at him. "Are you going out?"

"Yeah. He wanted to see, what snow is. Want to join?" She did not seemed like she cared, but Yuzu came from the kitchen.

"Can I came as well. It was such a long time since we had played in a snow. Just wait a second, so we can get ready." She left the kitchen in a hurry and Karin had followed her. Ichigo looked at him, now jumping from the excitement, hollow.

"I suppose, it does not snow inside my inner world." He shook his head, jumping around here.

"We are ready, Ichigo." Karin and Yuzu have came prepared, and they had left the house.

They were walking for a while, arguing to go to the park. The hollow had been amazed with the snow and had been playing with it for the whole road.

When coming to the park, there were not many people outside. Ichigo made a ball of snow and trow it at his hollow. He dodged it at looked at Ichigo.

"Why did you do that for?" But he was only looking innocently, not admitting anything.

"So a snow fight for a beginning?" With that words the Karin took a snow in her hand, hitting Ichigo. But he just grinned and went after her with even more snow balls.

"In snow fight, you are trying to hit a person by trowing a snow balls, and you are trying to not get hit by them." She then tried to trow some snow balls at Ichigo and Karin, but they all misted. The hollow smirked and thrown the really big snow ball at Ichigo. It took him by surprise, hitting him on the head. The for against one war had started.

After a while, only Ichigo and his Hollow were still at it. Karin and Yuzu were tired and were sitting on the ground. They also took it to a new level, even sonido was used to avoid getting hit.

Then Ichigo dodged a ball, and looked at his hollow, where he saw surprise. He turned around and saw Ishida, getting rid of his bow to clean snow from his face.

"Ishida, Inoue." Ichigo just stood there, his hollow joining him.

"Kurosaki, I knew you were weird, but to play with the hollow instead of destroying it, I did not expect that."

"I can explain..." He waived his hands, but did not know, where to start explaining.

"But why were they two Kurosakis?" Ishida took a closer look and realised that hollow looked like a really pale Kurosaki. The only seen difference was the colour of a hair and his eyes, being black with gold iris.

"Is it possible, that he is a long lost twin brother of Kurosaki, that died and become the hollow, but then because of a mystical device, he gained a heart and become a normal human?" All of them looked at her, perplex.

"Inoue, I think, that is not the case." Ishida did not know, how else to reply.

"It is Ichigo's inner hollow." Now the two youngest members of a Kurosaki household had came closer. "But do not tell anybody. It is hard enough hiding it from our idiot father as it is."

They only managed to nod.

"But, Kurosaki, would killing him right no get rid of him? So, why having a snow ball fight than killing him." Ichigo showed with his shoulders, that he doesn't really know.

"The more he is in the outside world, the more he just remind me of a small child, and I do nor like fighting children. In guess that is the reason." The grin had appeared on the face of a hollow, and he thrown another snow ball at them.

"Want to join?" Ishida did barley dodged the last one, and he did not believed, but he stated attacking the hollow with snow balls. He would have to work this out latter. It is probably only, that Kurosaki has too much influence over him. The boy in question had just sat down, glad he get a little time out. The went for quite a while, until both ob them patted, not wanting to give up. They both had a smirk on their face.

But at this moment, cero had came from the sky. With that the words of a visored was heard from the sky.

"What are you doing outside. You should have disappeared, Inner hollow of Ichigo."

Ishida and hollow both looked at the air, recognizing Hirako, Hiyori, Masshiro, Kensei and Lisa. Ishida had looked big for a moment.

"Hirako Shinji, what ..."

Ichigo looked at the air, seeing trouble. visored will not take lightly to his hollow being out, he knew that, but he did not expect to see them here. So he went, as quick as his normal body allowed him to stand in front of Ishida and Shiro.

And it was just in time, since Lisa's blade stopped only inches from him.

"Move."

"No way, just listen first, you can always attack latter." Lisa eyes had narrowed.

"Ichigo, what is the meaning of that? Why are you standing in front of your hollow?"

"Maybe Berry is getting controlled by it?"

"More like, the stupid idiot does not even understand what he is doing." Kensei, who was the only one still quiet that time, just looked prepared to attack.

"I am not getting controlled by it, and I do understand what I am doing." He almost yelled the words at the visored on the sky, that was slowly coming down, and then looked at Lisa.

"Can you remove that sword, it looks dangerous."

They were standing like that for moments. She had put the sword away, but still looked at him suspiciously.

"Start explaining." The group of vizored had made Ichigo uncomfortable, and he scratched his head.

"Well, recently I had figured out, that my hollow did not disappear after a fight. Since I did not want to go through that again, I tried to talk to him." The looked at him, like the wanted to the the mental institution.

"Zangetsu thought it was a good idea as well." His voice was starting to get a little defensing. "So after spending some time inside my inner world with him, I realized he is not so bad. So Zangetsu get the idea, that he should spend some time in the outside world, to teach him self control."

"And are you positive, it..." Lisa tried to point on the hollow, but he was not there anymore. Ishida simply pointed on the right, where Yuzu and Inoue were teaching hollow how to make angels in the snow. The visored just gaped.

"That is a trick, isn't it?" Masshiro got bored with the conversation and went to join them, Kensei following her.

"It is not a trick, Hiyori." With that words he went to join them, seeing that Inoue just gained the idea, the others following them.

"So, Hirako, I you do not mind asking me, who are you?" Hirako turned to quincy, who did not even stop to ask a question.

"I guess you can say, we are the visored."

"So, can I assume that you are the one, that had thought Ichigo how to control his hollow powers?" The yelling he got from Hiyori in return told him the answer and much more.

"So Inoue, what are you so excited about?" Ichigo had came to the group, all talking with one another.

"Brother, we are making the tournament." He looked at her with the eyebrows raised, waiting to continued.

"We are making ice sculptures. The one that makes it the prettiest will win."

"And how are you planing to decide that? Any other rules?"

"Does it even matter. You are just afraid you are going to lose." Hiyori voice had been heard from behind Ichigo. "That one is my win." Ichigo just looked at here, sighing.

"You guy can do anything you want. On the any, we will all decide witch is the prettiest. You are not allowed to vote for your own. Let start."

"Ichigo, I have an idea for a sculpture." Ichigo turned to his hollow, but he looked unsure. He turned to him. "Let's hear it"

The hollow was whispering something in his ear, Ichigo's eyes went wider with every passing second.

"Are you sure, you want to do this?" The hollow nodded, waiting for a affirmative. "Aright, but you better be able to do it." The hollow jumped in the air and screamed from happiness.

"I am counting on you, Ichigo." Ichigo just dropped his head.

At the same time, Karin had talked with Yuzu, coming to the agreement to what to do. On the end, the decided on their work and started. Karin making the big ball of snow to them.

Kensei and Masshiro were arguing to what to do, until Kensei gave up, since Masshiro insistent on her idea. Kensei snicker a little of what kind of face Ichigo will make, seeing the end result. That was going to be fun.

Ishida had decided to make the sculpture himself. In was for the better, since he was using his arrows, to help him make the basic fell to it. Everybody just sweet dropped.

Lisa had said, it is not her type of thing, and she left, god know where.

Inoue and Hirako had been making some quiet noises, making a plan, how to do a best sculpture. Hiyori was angry, but since everybody had been doing something, she started, out of boredom, making a big ball of snow.

After about an hour or more, nobody really knew, since they lost a track of time. It was dark outside, but the park was illuminated by the lamps. They all looked at their works, most of them grinning, convinced into a victory. The came on the middle, where the contest had been announced.

"Well, and now the sightseeing of the works had began."

The first one they were seeing was the ice sculpture made by Inoue and Hirako. Everybody just wondered, what was that.

"Inoue, what exactly is that?" Everybody just looked at him, surprised he was be able to speak.

"Glad you asked, Ishida-kun. Well, Hirako wanted to make something on the theme of Godzilla, so then I got an idea, we made an future version of it. It has a motor based tank, it can go up to 200 km/h, and at the same time it can destroy building under it's feat. Then I also made it wear the rocket, that can destroy the city. It has six of them on the back. It also has the injection, filled with deadly poison. It is amazing, isn't it." Everybody sweet dropped. The scary part was, they could recognise the parts of it, when they were introduced to them. Then Ichigo felt the tug on his sleeve.

"So, witch one do you think it's stronger, the future Godzilla or the espada from the last time?"

"It is not real, Inoue and Shinji just made it from ice. We can not exactly figure it out, since it won't become real." After that, everybody make it to the next sculpture.

The next sculpture it was three people with the bow, that everybody assumed, they were quincy. So it become obvious, who's sculpture it was. Three people, an old guy, a kid and a middle aged guy, were standing on the battle field with broken swords.

"What do you think of it? It decrypts the battle between the quincy and the death gods, the victor quite obvious from it. I made sure, the sculptures were perfect."

"But I thought the point of ice sculptures was to be made from ice. And where the hell did you get all these clothing." Only at Karin's words, did everybody else realized, the three ice quincy were dressed in clouding.

"I made it. I thought it would suit them."

"And where did you get the fabrics to sew them? Where did you have the time?" The quincy just pushed up his glasses, "Are you underestimating me, Kurosaki." He just shook his head, hoping the next one would be better.

It was made by Hiyori, and she had a smirk on her face.

"What do you think of it?" The sculpture was a big slipper. It was roughly made, but unlike the future Godzilla, it was at least recognizable on the first look.

"What in the name of ..." Ichigo just stared at it, until he turned to Hiyori.

"You really like that sandals of yours, don't you?" She just smirked.

"It is all Shinji's fault." He sighed yet again, until he realized, Masshiro, his hollow, sisters and Inoue are using Hiyori sculpture as a slide. The smile appeared on his face.

"At least you sculpture was useful." They looked at them for a while, until the people in question got bored.

The moved on the next one, and just seeing it, Ichigo's forehead started twitching.

"How, who's idea was that?" Ichigo's sisters started laughing and nobody could hide a smile. Whoever made it, it have to be brave, to piss Ichigo like that. The sculpture was a mountain of strawberries. His hollow just looked confused.

"What is wrong with these sculpture?" Yuzu giggled as she explained.

"You had never seen strawberries in your life, right ?" The hollow nodded. "Well, the sculpture represent a mountain of them. It is a pun on Ichigo's name, that is why he is angry." He looked in in for a minute, and then wanted answers.

"So, Ichigo name means the one to protect, so he is trying to protect that think called strawberries?" At that everybody but the twin looking pair started laughing even more.

"It is not that." Ichigo really hoped he won't show his anger to his hollow, since he could still feel pain, remembering the last time. "The strawberry and the one to protect are the words, that sound the same, when is spoken language. Is it a pun." Hollow faces the sculpture again.

"I still prefer the original meaning of your name." He caught Ichigo by surprise and he cracked a smile.

"But who made it on the end?" They watched Ishida, since they did not think, somebody would just admitted it. Ichigo could be really scary, when angry.

"Me and Kensei did it." The green haired visored jumped in the air, being happy to admitted it.

"I suggest we get to the next sculpture, before I change my mind of not doing anything."

There were only two sculptures left. The next one was a teddy bear, that was kicking the ball. Inoue, Ishida nad Ichigo could not stop themselves from laughing this time.

"So, do you two know, what is supposed to be so funny on that sculpture." Yuzu just shook her head. Ichigo was still on the ground, his hollow next to him, but even he was smiling. There was a word 'Kon' heard in the mist of that.

"We just combined the Bostov and Karin's love for football. But I remember, that I could find sometimes Bostov in the brother's room. I wonder if it has any connection." The visored had enough.

"You you three please tell me, what is so funny?" They just shook their head, still smiling.

"So, then the last one is Ichigo's. I can wait to see his." At that moment the hollow's face get a grin.

"The design was my idea, so it might not be by Ichigo's standards." Since they knew, what Ichigo's inner hollow represent, the could not hide their smile.

The last sculpture looked like a building,, but it was turned sideways. On the top, or sideways of the building, there was a lake, but it was small. Around the lake, there was trees and there were animals around. You could see cats and dogs under the trees, and even the birds on the trees. They all just looked at the absurd of the picture. But fore some reason, there was a pole between the trees, and all looked like, they wanted the explanation. Ichigo just looked at it.

"Just trying to make a wish came true." He had a small smile painted on his lips. The visored looked from one to another, and them smiled, realizing what he meant.

"But, Kurosaki, why a pole?"

Ichigo looked at his hollow and then at Ishida. "For standing on a pole." Ishida looked unsatisfied with the answer, but did not push forward.

"It is really beautiful." Everybody nodded at Inoue's words. And then Yuzu coughed.

"We had probably stayed outside for too long. Why don't we get somewhere to get a hot cocoa?" The visoreds, Inoue and Ishida had excused themselves. So the only one left were the Kurosaki household.

The took the path through the city, amazing the hollow even more. He just looked at them, not believing how pretty it was, illuminated like that.. Karin and Yuzu even started to explain, how all of that worked and why they do it. The hollow listen intently, but at the same time, he did not want to miss anything. Since their father won't be coming back for days, Ichigo had promised him, to take him in the city to see lights tomorrow evening. Yuzu wanted to go with them, and they agreed. They had finally came to their house.

Ichigo immediately made their sisters take a bath, while he got changed and went to prepare hot coco. The hollow just looked at him.

"Can I help you with something?" Ichigo shook his head while taking four cups out of a drawer.

"It is ready already." He took the for cups, and placing them in the living room, his sisters just coming downstairs. They all sat in front of a TV, sipping their drink, and watching some weird movie. Ichigo could not even remember, what it was about. It was too lame to pay attention to it, so he just watched the passive face of Karin and the face of his hollow and Yuzu, watching it with interest. He smiled at himself, getting lost in thoughts.

About an hour latter, his sisters were already sleeping, and he tugged his hollow. After seeing their sleeping face, he helped him carried them to their room. After tucking them under the pillows, they had quietly made their way to Ichigo's room. Ichigo had thrown himself on top of a bed, and hollow sat on the chair by the table.

"Thank you." Ichigo looked at his white counterpart, but he was not looking at him.

"You are welcome, not like I did anything." The hollow shook his head, looking at Ichigo.

"You have given me a chance. I doubt most death gods would had let their inner hollow have such fun with them." Ichigo now turned to the wall.

"That is why, they prefer to hide inside their soul that to show themselves. Even you did not came willingly, but was forced by Urahara's training."

"I am glad it did. We might not have started on the right foot, but I am glad, it ended as it did."

"So, how did our plan worked?" Ichigo was a little skeptical, but the hollow laughed. Not on insane way, it was a pleasant sound after all.

"Zangetsu said, that no animals came, but the lake and the trees did. They are just frozen right now. But I am shore, even to that place, the snow and ice will eventually disappear."

"You mean the spring will come, right?" The hollow looked at him, wanting the answers, but Ichigo still did not looked at him.

"Spring is a next season, when the snow disappears, and all of the greenery came back to life. There are flowers everywhere. If we came through the winter war fine, I will show it to you. And make the same replica inside my inner world as well."

The hollow smiled and and started disintegrating. Ichigo could only heard 'It is a promise', before he disappeared from the room. Ichigo closed his eyes, trying to listen to his inner world. He still had trouble with that, but the happy feeling, that came from it, made him smile.


	3. The Fairytale Horse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fairytales are not the best way to explain the real world.

"And they lived happily ever after." Ichigo had closed the book, glad it was finally over. On the bed next to him, was sitting his white counterpart, who was thinking over the story, he had just listened to intently.

"So, on the end love had conquered all. No gruesome fighting and no spectacular deaths." Ichigo sighed, knowing he would have to explain everything.

"It is a fairytale. Story made for little kids. There is probably some rule, that have to be as happy as possible. So no fighting and no killing the hero of the story."

"So, the things inside are real events, but with children-safe way of telling?"

"I doubt that. There is no way, that every step-mother is evil, witches exist, dragons fly in the air, and beautiful princess get saved by the prince on the white horse." The hollow had only smirked.

"Just like hollow and death gods do not exist. I am sure they are somewhere, we just can not see them. We do not have the power yet." He looked up, thinking. Ichigo turned away on his chair.

"I have homework to do, so if that is all..." He did not get a reply.

After a while the old man with the glasses had come inside, just as Ichigo was stretching, finishing the work for today.

"Zangetsu, did you finish?" He looked at the newcomer.

"Aah. There should not be anymore hollow attack tonight. Did you two finish?" He looked at the white counterpart, who was still in thought with his usual grin on his face.

"Yeah. I would like to go to sleep, so..." Zangetsu started to dissolve, but Shiro stayed behind.

"King, can I go somewhere tomorrow?" He asked with a glen in his eyes and Ichigo had eyed him suspiciously.

"You are not planning to do anything, ... unusual, right?" He shook his head.

"I will not hurt a living soul. Or any soul for that matter. Except if some hollow get on my way. I will not do anything, I know you will disapprove of. I promise."

"And you will do what exactly,..."

"It is a surprise."

Sighing, Ichigo rubbed his head looking away.

"Do what you like." He just nodded in answer, getting dissolved in the same way the Zangetsu before him.

Ichigo had been distant all the time he was in school. It was lunch time and they were sitting on the roof. Even Keigo's usually blabbering could not have even fazed him. Until something bumped on to him. He looked at it surprised and then annoyed.

"Keigo, what do you thing you are doing?" He practically tackled him.

"But you have been so cold, Ichigo." He just sighed, looking away.

"What the 12 division is doing, does it bother you so much?" He shook his head ad Ishida's question.

"It is not that. It is just, ..." He paused for a second, as if question himself. "My inner hollow wanted a day off and I let him have it. I am a little worried, that is all." Ishida had closed his eyes.

"He is too far away do distinguish anything, but he appears to be returning. It will take him quite a lot of time, thought."

Ichigo looked at him, a small smile on his face. "Thank you."

They were just sitting in the classroom, Ichigo tried not to worry. Zangetsu did assure him, that Shiro will not broken his promise, but it only partly helped.

He finally felt the all too familiar spiritual pressure. It wanted to be know, and Ichigo had a bed feeling.

"Teacher, I am not feeling to well, can I go to the doctor's office?." Teacher looked at him, but before answering, there was an all too familiar voice coming from the outside.

"King, I have brought you a horse." Ichigo froze, while the people at he window chairs had look out through the window.

"Could you please pay attention." It did not help, that the teacher was new, since nobody listened.

"But teacher, there is an albino Kurosaki Ichigo standing down, dressed in the weird white clothing and waiving." The teacher eyed the student weirdly and stepped to the window, looking down. He turned around and looked at Ichigo, seeing him running out of the classroom.

The teacher yelled after him: "I did not allow you to leave."

"Hey, King can you hear me, or had you hearing gone bad as well?" He stopped, like he spotted something. "Inoue, is Ichigo sleeping inside right now? If you could, would you wake him up?" At that moment Ichigo came out of the school.

"What are you doing?" His voice was angry, but at least he still had the volume down. The other students were coming after him, coming closer.

"Well, prince have to came on the white horse and save the princess in danger to become the true king. Since I do not know, how to do that, I am not worthy to be you horse for that. That is way, I went and retrieved a white horse for you." Ichigo was now angry, the mark appearing on his forehead.

"And...?" It was like he was waiting for an answer, but Shiro had not know what to answer. His instinct had also screamed at him to get away.

"I just wanted to help..." The air had changed his structure and Shiro, still being a hollow, started loosing the grip on his emotions.

"Shirosaki Senma..." Like he did not know he was in trouble before, Ichigo had never called him by his full name. Not unless he was extremely angry. And all the tension had came to him. He took the Zangetsu from his back, attacking Ichigo. Ichigo materialized Zangetsu and blocked the first swing from above. The swords clashed and most students had blown away, from the shear force of their energy. The energy that was released from pair made most of the student fall. The broke and Ichigo jumped away, releasing himself from his body.

Toshiro, Byakuya and Rukia had came from the Spirit gate, but before they had made even two steps, the two high spiritual pressure had washed over them. Recognizing it as Ichigo's, they flash stepped towards the commotion.

To the people watching, the battle looked even. They could hear the the metal striking metal, but everything else was just a blur with some sparks. The captains and Rukia had came there and just looked. To their eyes, Ichigo had been fighting himself.

Ichigo realized, that his hollow started fighting only on instinct. He tried to stop him, but the hollow had him on the defense. The left block there, the jump, the dodge on the right,... He lost counts of each of them, when the familiar spiritual pressure went over him. Not knowing, how Soul Society would react to his hollow, he stopped, his hollow stopping with him.

Ichigo had a small wounds on all his body, bit Shiro only had one big on his back. The bout looked at one another. Ichigo took a glance at the newcomers and used flash step to get behind his white counterpart, knocking him down, taking the horse and disappeared in the blink of the eye. The students just stared.

"So, was that horse Ichigo's?" Byakuya was the first to ask. Ishida just sighed.

"It was brought here for him, but he was surprised to see it. He probably saw it for the first time in his life."

"Can anybody explain what had happened here. Do you guys even realize, how dangerous it is to release that kind of spiritual pressure?" They all looked at Toshiro, who was losing his cool.

"Do you thing you can order anybody around, shorty. I would advise you to stop dressing like Kurosaki and just go back to your school. Won't teacher be worried, because you skipped your kanji practice." Toshiro looked at the student, that dared to say it, and the air around him become colder.

"Shirosaki just wanted to surprise Ichigo." Inoue looked ready to defend herself.

"Shirosaki?" Rukia looked interested, and Inoue tried to answer, but Ishida stopped her.

"They don't need to know." He glared at them.

In that moment the people of 12 division and Hanatarou came into the view.

"Captain Kuchiki, captain Hitsugaya." They bowed to them and turned to Ishida. "Thank you for cooperation. We had finished."

Hanatarou came forward. "So, I will begin the healing of the people that got hurt at this accident." She started to work.

"So, do you guys have anything, that would make people here forget what happened today?" They looked at Ishida.

"We have, it will take less than ten minutes. We will prepare immediately." The bowed to the Captain again and left.

"Brother, why were you so interested into the owner of the horse?"

"It was unexpected, seeing something like that here." He shook his head. "It doesn't matter."

They had traveled for quite some time. Shiro had felt Ichigo's tension, but the anger had went to a more controlled manner. It was not gone. He averted his eyes away from Ichigo, even thought he didn't even looked at him. He started to feel sorry for his lost of control. His reason had came back, and he was sure he would not go unpunished. He attacked Ichigo while he was at school. He sighed, not caring where they were going. But he did wonder, why did Ichigo brought the horse with them. After a while he stopped on the clearing. He put them down. Shiro just looked down, trying to put a distance between them.

"I am sorry." Shiro froze, thinking he misheard Ichigo.

"I overreacted. You did it because you were sure it is for my best. But that does not mean I ma not angry for what you did today. The whole school could see you thanks to the 12 division's experiment. What were you thinking?" He took a sneak look at Ichigo. He sighed.

"I never thought I will see the day, you will back away from me." He looked away. The hard look softening.

"I am sorry." It was hard for him to say it, but it was to be fair. But the only thing he saw was a dumbstruck Ichigo.

"What, you can not even take a simple sentence. You brain must have been even slower than usual." He tried to hid behind a mask of his sarcastic self. Ichigo just smiled, and went to now looking away hollow. He completely softened his eyes,... and felt the hand on his hair.

"It is okay, at least we went through a other lesson. Whey you do something bad, you apologize and try to correct you mistakes." Shiro looked at him.

"But I had never thought the blood thirsty hollow can be such a baby." He smirked at his hollow.

"We still have to return the horse to who it belongs." They both looked at the white horse, that started eating the grass.

"It told me it does not have a home. I did first try to steal it, but since this horse does not have a owner, I asked it, if he would like to came with me. So, there is really not place to returned it." Ichigo looked at him with a disbelieving eyes.

"We can not keep it." The white horse at that time touched Ichigo with his nose. Shiro laughed.

"He likes you." Ichigo turned around and petted the head.

"Well, since you went through the trouble to find a horse, do you want to ride it?" He went to his back, like it was a most natural thing on the world and extended his hand to Shiro. He took it and they both sat in the back very soon. And they realized, after the horse started moving, that they do not need to do anything but hold on tight, since the it took care of their safety and comfort.

"But do not forget, fairytales are not real an do not try to copy them ever again." Shiro just nodded.

Enjoying their ride, they had came to their house, Ichigo and Shiro already sleeping. An that moment Zangetsu appeared from the inner world, taking Shiro inside Ichigo. He looked at the horse and bowed.

"Thank you." The horse just left, leaving them here. Zangetsu had picked Ichigo bride style up and get him to his room. His body was already there, so he join them, tucking him inside his bed, making sure, he was comfortable. He speared the last glance at his sleeping face and went out.

"Did Ichigo came home safely?" The spirit sword turned around, seeing quincy in his traditional outfit. He nodded and looked at the sky again.

"Aha, he is sleeping peacefully in his bed." Ishida stepped next to him, looking at the sky also.

"All spiritual unaware people had forgotten everything about today. And the captains had returned to Soul Society, finishing their job. They did gave me a message for Ichigo, so you can hold it to it." He gave a thick envelope to Zangetsu, who pick it up and place it inside his robes.

"It is Ichigo's turn to patrol this city tonight."

"I could not sleep and I thought he wanted some peace and quiet after what happened today." He just took glance at the him, not commenting.

\--------------------------------------------

**Omake**

"Shiro." He looked at the two death gods that had came to the bedroom.

"Ichigo is not here right now, taking a shower." They smiled and Shiro got a feeling he would not like it.

"We did not came to see Ichigo today." The death god with the orange hair was scaring him. It did not wonder him, she could be friends with Ichimaru Gin. He could see the similarity.

"We just came to get you something to read." Rukia had brought the book from behind it. Shiro took at with great care, like it could explode.

"We just bought it." They grinned, but the curiosity took better of him.

After about 20 minutes later, Ichigo had come back.

"Shiro what are you reading?" He showed the cover, but it was only pink nothing written on it.

"But I do not understand what are they talking about. Rukia and Matsumoto had brought it." He made a big circle with his eyes.

"What do you not understand?" He asked patiently, and hoped they did not involve anything weird.

"What is a kiss?" Ichigo just stared. "There are also other words that I do not understand, like sex, blow job, and similar." Ichigo had slapped himself on the forehead.

"Give me that book." Ichigo looked at Shiro, his hand extended. But he just clenched it closer.

"First answer my question." Ichigo sighed and lean closer, pressing his lips on Shiro's forehead. It had barley touched, and Ichigo pulled away. Shiro just stared into him, his fingers moving on the place Ichigo touched. For some reason it felt nice.

"That was a kiss." With that words he took a book and teared into pieces. Then he went out of his body.

"Where are you going?"

Ichigo stopped on the window, and said without turning. "Killing Matsumoto and Rukia."

After saying that he jumped down.


End file.
